However, this time, it wasn’t a kidnapping—the other party’s movements were actually rather gentle. Because she’d been on edge, she had mistaken the other person as being more violent.
The other person only lightly covered her mouth, as if they just wanted to stop her from opening the door.
If this was a kidnapping…the level was really too low.
She couldn’t help but roast them.
Shen Zhirou had originally been thinking that she didn’t know how to face her big brother—and now, great. Would it be best just to start screaming and flush him out?
However, in the next moment, her muddled brain started working again, and she suddenly realised that the owner of these hands was very familiar.
“Rourou.”
Their voice was also extremely familiar—still that sticky-sweet voice of a young girl.
Shen Zhirou didn’t know if it was because she was on edge, but she felt that there was a meaningful sigh hidden in the other person’s voice.
Her movements halted. Ever since Ferdinand had told her the truth, she had been in this state.
Questioning herself, doubting herself.
There was nothing worse than who she was.
Her brother had borne the weight of everything, while she hadn’t even known the truth about their parents’ death.
At this moment, Yi Jia hadn’t said anything. Shen Zhirou didn’t even know why Yi Jia would appear here.
She didn’t want to think about anything, and so her tears began to fall again.
Yi Jia’s movements were gentle, so Shen Zhirou easily wriggled free and crouched down in front of the door. She buried her head in her arms like a quail, weeping quietly.
She didn’t dare to make a sound, for fear of disturbing Shen Zhifan, a wall away.
Yi Jia watched her silently. She’d originally planned to leave, but had actually seen Shen Zhirou return home, completely unharmed. Although Yi Jia felt for her, she still shuffled her over to the side, lightly pushing Shen Zhirou’s bangs from her face.
“Rourou, listen to me…” Yi Jia struggled to gather up her words. The news had come too suddenly for her to be prepared; even though Ferdinand saw her as one of his people, she hadn’t received any information about Shen Zhirou’s disappearance and abrupt return.
“No…”
Shen Zhirou whispered, her voice tinged with mournfulness.
“Jiajia, you should go, you…it’s unimaginable, and I can’t tell you. Just go, the farther you are from me, the better—I’m going crazy.”
Yi Jia fell silent again, biting her lip.
“Rourou, calm down a little…What if…what if I said that I knew?”
Shen Zhirou suddenly froze, staring at her dumbly.
“You met Ferdinand, didn’t you?” Yi Jia didn’t hesitate to speak directly, “He told you about Project Glory, didn’t he?”
Shen Zhirou felt that her own brain had really stopped working.
“Wait…Jiajia, you…”
Shen Zhirou’s face gradually paled.
“What…what are you talking about?”
Yi Jia bit her lip, “Ferdinand’s words…although they’re not untrue, you can’t trust someone like him.”
Shen Zhirou took a step back, looking at her in disbelief, “…Then who are you?”
Her lips paled. In her mind, Yi Jia was a simple, silly but pretty girl, as well as one of her brother’s fangirls.
If that was Yi Jia…Then who was this girl before her, harried and agitated, who spoke the name ‘Ferdinand’ as if she knew many things?
“Rourou, listen to me,” Yi Jia decided to explain everything as simply as she could, since Shen Zhirou really looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown, “I was called by your brother to protect you—trust me.”
Shen Zhirou was somewhat wooden, “Aren’t you his fan?”
“That was also…” Yi Jia felt a headache coming on, “Where should I start? It was probably a few years ago, when I did the most daring thing in my life and left home. At the time, I was still young, so I ended up almost getting trafficked but eventually found myself in an underground wrestling arena. I’d been living undercover for a while before my family found me.”
Shen Zhirou’s eyes widened.
This kind of…A close friend turning into a King-Kong-Spiderman-Superman figure in the blink of an eye, leaving herself as an ordinary civilian—what the hell was this feeling?
“At that time, I met your brother, and we were on good terms,” Yi Jia looked at her earnestly, “Because of my identity, I could easily get close to Ferdinand—of course, it took a good few years worth of hanging around to gain his trust. He had me approach you, and spy on your brother in the meantime…But in reality, it was the complete opposite, you know? I was the ‘spy’ that your brother had arranged to be by Ferdinand’s side.”
“Aren’t my brother and Ferdinand on the same side?”
Shen Zhirou continued to stare at her dumbly.
“No, not…At the beginning, yes, but your brother started doubting him later on.” Yi Jia felt her heartbeat racing. She glanced around, as if afraid of Ferdinand catching wind of their conversation, “Anyway, Ferdinand is a nasty piece of work. Although his goals aren’t clear, your brother has always been wary of him, and it’s only because of other reasons that he had no choice in helping him…No matter what he said to you, or how well he framed it, you can’t believe him!”
“Wasn’t…” Shen Zhirou thought about it again, “Then—then what should I do now?”
“What did Ferdinand want you to do?” Yi Jia looked at her nervously.
“He wanted me to have my brother listen to this message,” Shen Zhirou waved a hand, “He said that only I could have my brother listen to it properly, and it’ll help him recover his memories.”
Yi Jia paused, and suddenly stuttered out, “Your brother lost his memories?”
“…Y-Yeah.” Shen Zhirou was somewhat nervous.
Yi Jia’s mouth dropped open for a good while. “Holy—I knew he was acting off! Before, he told me to keep a solid cover so I didn’t do anything…When did it happen?”
Shen Zhirou vaguely recalled, “Probably a week ago?”
Yi Jia practically sprang up, turning on the spot as she suddenly remembered that Shen Zhifan was just past the door behind her.
However, she still restrained her impulse to burst in and find him.
“How could he lose his memories?” Yi Jia was even more disbelieving than Shen Zhirou. “I…I thought he was putting on a show, in case Ferdinand was monitoring him. He…How could he?”
“Hold on, baby, feel bad later,” Yi Jia was itching to move, and had no thoughts to spare, “How about this—play the recording to your brother. The most important thing is for him to get his memories back, otherwise I really don’t know what else to do.”
Shen Zhirou nodded.
She didn’t know if she should believe Yi Jia, but…she still had to believe in her brother.
Recovering Shen Zhifan’s memories was now the top priority.
Yi Jia had successfully cleared her head somewhat. Shen Zhirou finally gathered her courage to open the door, having just decided to call out, with deep feeling, “Brother, I’m home!”
However, she’d only started on the first syllable.
She saw her brother with a man, facing away from the door, kissing.
Shen Zhirou, “…”
This scene was extremely embarrassing.
She thought, and felt that closing the door was a good option.